


The Shaman

by HALO1



Category: Hmong
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-18
Updated: 2021-01-18
Packaged: 2021-03-16 12:47:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 2,842
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28831440
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HALO1/pseuds/HALO1
Summary: A tiny jump into the Hmong culture.





	1. The Calling

**Author's Note:**

> HIGHLY RECOMMEND LISTENING TO "The Shaman" by DJpeter. It will help with the adrenaline and gives you the feel of the Hmong culture.  
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zczJjl8B4-0

As everyone was just sitting around and doing their own thing a knock on the door gathered everyone's attention, as she took a step out of her room, she already knew that another one had called for her help. Her soldiers came into her dreams giving her a warning as another battle was going to happen. They all gather their swords and weapons. At her doorstep, in a hand that clutches onto it for dear life, were red strings and the incense. A face that had lost hope and was giving up on everything made its smile as he saw her face. A group of three men made their way in the door and sat casually on the chairs that were handed to them, as she made her way to grab a chair and sat across from them. He tried to hold a casual conversation but her face focused on the cold sweat that ran from his head giving it all away. It was not until she spoke and told him that she knew of his coming and was willing to do anything in her power to try to help. As those words left her mouth, tears broke down from his eyes, as it was seen that he was finally able to gain hope again, as if she had breathed life into him. She told him to wipe his tears away as a grown man was never to show tears and to never lose hope, as he wiped his tears and gain control over himself, he stood up and the other two men followed. They all bowed and left the red string and incense as they made their way to the door. As the door slams shut, and the quietness follows, leaving everyone in the household to turn their face to her as she sits there in a corner sipping her tea. Before anyone could’ve said anything, she told them not to worry and make preparations for when they are about to leave for a trip to the next village. Her sons stood up and made their mother’s preparations as they gathered all the equipment and papers that were needed.


	2. The Start

Everyone surrounded the house as the mourning and weeping were heard from inside the bedroom. It was the talk of the town, a young girl was sick to her deathbed but she was so young that it was not common for her time yet. As she made her way to the door, eyes followed her and whispers could be heard from the outskirts of the village. She made her way inside as she looked up seeing him standing at the door with his eyes full of tears and body shaking, barely able to hold him up to greet them. She took a look around the family, it was a small family of four only, but everyone’s face had lost up hope and was still mourning. From the bedroom, a life slept in her dream fighting for her own life as she coughed and tried to breathe some air into her lungs. She made her way to the bedroom to look at the young daughter of the family, as she lay there lifeless and fought for every breath she took. She touched the young girl’s head as she helped her sit up to a sitting position, as she stood up, she coughed out a stain of blood into her hand as her mother turned her face away, losing control of her tears as they strolled down her face. She asked the girl if she had done anything that had made her scared or anything to upset the spirits around the area, the girl weakly as she was, was only able to shake her head as she started to cough heavily into her hand. As she raised her hand and was about to touch the young girl's head, the girl lost consciousness, making everyone breakdown and panic. As she tied a red string to the young girl's hand and voiced out a chant, she yelled at her sons to ask if the preparations were done, a voice from the main room answered back as she lay the girl there and made her way to the main room. As she took a step out her red stacks and everything was in place as she finally tied the red cloth onto her head and stepped onto her horse. “Yog hais tai kuv ua neeb hnyav ces nej cai li hlawv ntawv cov ntau.”, as she said to her sons and finally closed her eyes all she heard was “ua li” as she opened her eyes the second time she looked straight ahead into the gates.


	3. The Seven Gates

The seven gates that she had to cross were in front of her, each door holding different meanings as she opened one by one. As she finally made her away to the last gate, the door pushes open and the light that shines through the gate, made her stared directly beyond the gates and there was her soldiers with their head acknowledging her, each one holding their equipment as they all turned their attention from her to look towards the darkness that laid ahead of them. The mountains were covered in darkness as the shadows talks to each other, if she did not know better she would have thought everything was a dream for it seem so unreal, but as her soldiers turn their head to look back at her face, her face holds a daring look of someone who was determined and knew that this was not a dream, it was a matter of life or death. The first step that her horse touched left a shine of light as the light followed her and her soldiers as each one started their own equipment. She was like the sun within the darkness, as it looked like the sun followed her itself.


	4. The Meeting

Jumping from mountain to mountain, it took her a while to finally come across a tiny hut in the middle of nowhere, the house shine so bright in its environment that the spirit themselves did not come near it. She takes her feet off her horses as she landed on her feet touching the cold floor, remind her that it was not like the world that the living lived in, she had to be cautious. Taking a few steps, before she knew it, she was face to face with the door, as if the hut itself was pulling her to meet whoever was inside the hut. She knocked on the door, as she stood there waiting, the door creaked open showing a tiny young girl face as she popped her head out. “Koj tuaj los tus phauj?” she asked in a tiny voice. “Yog lauv kuv tuaj, es koj pua yog----” she asked the young girl as the girl looked her in the eyes. “...Kuv yog mas….” she answered with a tiny voice that was barely audible as she opened the door a bit wider to let her in. She made her way as she followed the girl inside the hut. The hut had nothing but a tiny bed and a tiny fire by the end of the bed. “ Es me ntxhais, koj ho los pw no ua dab tsis..” she asked as she stood by the fire that was slowly dying, she took a look into the fire and became worried as it was slowly weakening. “ Es kuv tsis muaj naim tsis muaj txiv es kuv tiaj los pw no os phauj, koj hos tuaj qhv twg tuaj es koj nrhiav tau kuv os.” she said as she looked at her face but her eyes were filled with sadness as that word left her mouth. “ Me nxthais koj niam thiab koj txiv nkawm nco nco koj es nkawm hais kom kuv tuaj coj koj rov qab mus tsev”. Once those words left her mouth, the girl’s face dropped as she looked sad to hear about them. “...Nkawm twb tsis hlub kuv es kuv tiaj li los txog ntawm no… yog kuv yuav rov qab los kuv yeej mus tsis txog”. She said as she cried and wept to falling onto the floor holding her legs into her chest as she looked at her face. “ Es koj nrog kuv rov qab mus es kuv mas hais koj niam thiab koj txiv kom nkawm hlub koj …” She said as she made her way to the girl that was crying on the floor as she sat there helplessly. “ Phauj kuv mus tsis tau lawm, lawv twb tua kuv tes, kuv taw lawm … kuv yuav nrog koj mus tsis tau lawv.” She said as she broke down into a sob as shadows from outside started to talk and howl as her weeping continues. She stopped all her action and grabbed her cloth as she covers the young girl and hugged her telling her to calm down and ua siab loj. “ Koj yuav mus los tsis mus los kuv twb tuaj txog no lawv ces koj rov qab nrog kuv mus xwb...” She said as she looked at the girl in the eyes and helped her up on her feet. “...Ua li os phauj…” she replied as she wiped her tears and held onto her hand that was reaching out to her. Standing at the door, she takes a look at the young girl and says “Thaum wb khiav tawm lub qhov rooj, ces cia li khiav cov mus txog lub rooj vag, tsis txhob saib rov qab li nawb.” She told her as she held onto her hand as tight as possible and tied her cloth onto the girl’s head. She nodded at the instructions given to her as she tightened her hold onto her hand.


	5. The Run

Once the door busted open, the shadows howled and screamed as they were awakened from their sleep. Crawling, running, gasping, and crying as they all ran after her. She did not turn back as the air in her lungs was on fire and the adrenaline in her blood burned as they made their way to her feet. “Tsis txob siab rov qab!!!Khiav tiag kom di!!” She heard her yelled as she looked towards the light that was in front of them. Her soldiers were all fighting their own battles as they tried their best to keep the gates open for their master. 

As her jumping gained speed and got more heavy, her sons all tried to keep up with the rhythm as their mother was running for her and another life. From outside her husband was burning papers and continuously praying for the spirits of the area for both of their safeties, everyone was shocked at how fast everything was happening. As she sped up more, heavy breathing was heard from inside the room of the young girl who was also fighting for her life. Her mother instantly dropped everything once she heard her daughter fight for every breath and she ran into her daughter's room standing next to her daughter's side as she held her hand and started to apologize and pray for her to come back home. Her father rushed into the room to find his wife sobbing and his daughter heavily breathing in the constant ache of pain. Everyone dropped everything as they made their way outside of the door to see the commotion that was happening. Aunts and uncles made their way to the girl's side as they stood there for emotional support for the parents. Outside in the main room, her constant rhymes sped up as she was now shouting and the bells on her hand and the gong became more aggressive as the chanting of the prayers from outside in fires as the fires got bigger and bigger from the constant feed of papers to it.


	6. The Struggle

As they both run for their lives, the scream from the shadows roars as they get closer and closer. The girl constantly looked down as she cried as the shadows followed her pledging her to stay for she had already promised them that she would stay. As she opened her eyes to look at the floor below her, a hand wraps itself around her ankle as she opened her eyes wide from shock. Once the hand latched onto her foot, the voice of the shadowing pleaded louder, telling her she was not loved when she was alive, they could love her more and will always will. She held onto her hand as tight as possible, but before they noticed both of them were on the floor as the girl had fallen. In the real world, she has slipped off her horse, her knees have fallen onto the floor, making all her sons worried as they know what has happened and quickly reach out for their mother to help her back onto the horse. As she got up on her legs to pull the girl up from the ground but as she did, she noticed the hand that was wrapped around the girl’s ankle, she grabbed her sword as she cut the handoff and pulled the girl as they continued to make a run for it. As long as the cloth stays on then it shall be fine, she thought to herself as she turns back, a gush of air blows the cloth right off the girl's head, exposing her crying face and her to the shadows. Once her face was exposed, the shadows roared so loud as they had finally found their person. It shocked her as the mountain slowly got darker and darker, making her grab onto her hand even more tightly, she used all her energy to pull her and the girl to the gates. The gates were slowly closing, meaning that her time was coming to an end, her soldiers were all trying their best to fight off other demons within the realm from entering the gate. As the air from her lungs travels throughout her body, her body was slowly weakened as she had overstayed in the realm, her muscle aches from the pain and reminds her of her states. She pushes all the energy she had to keep pushing and pushing. Just as they were about to touch the gates, her face was relieved as they had finally made it, but her hand was empty as she turned back to notice the girl had spilled her hand through her grip and stood there smiling at her. As she was about to take a step to grab the girl’s hand, she gets pushed through the gates as the gate slowly closes. She took one last glance at her as she said something to her as she turned around to meet face to face with the shadows that had been chasing them. Before the gate could be closed, all she saw was the girl hugging the shadow figure as the gate slam shut in her face.


	7. The Choices We Make

As she opened her eyes and took a breath through her lungs, the air burned as her lungs were hungry for air. She slowly lifted the red cloth from her head, as she noticed the weeping and mourning from the bed. Sobs and tears filled the room, as she slowly got off of the table and made her way inside the room. Her sons held her hands as her legs shook with every step she took. As she made her way to the door, everyone parted ways to let her through. Once she came in contact with the family, her mother was sobbing on the top of her as her daughter laid there lifeless. Her father tried his best to not cry and pulled his wife away from his daughter’s body. She made her way to the bed, as her mother came straight at her, pleading with her to save her daughter and do anything to bring her daughter back to life. As she looked over to her mother's eyes, she felt guilty as she could not save her daughter and to lose a child at such a young age. She held the girl’s hand as she sat down beside her and looked at her mother and told her, “Nej tus ntxhais hais rau kuv tais nws yuav tsis rov qab los…” once those words left her mouth, her mother broke down to sob as tears fell from her father’s face. “...Nws hais kom kuv rov qab los hais rau nej tia kom nej txhob quaj es nws tiaj mus ua ib lub neej zoo…” She said as she let go of the girl’s hand and cut off the red string that was attached to the girl’s hand, once the string came off, the girl exhales her last breath. She got up from the bed and made her way to the door as her sons came to help their mother. As she turned around to look at the girl once last time, the scene she saw made an ache in her chest as the family all surround their daughter and weep for their lost


End file.
